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World Rally Championship season preview: Changes for 2014

January 15, 2014

Mads Ostberg is ready for the World Rally Championship season. There have been a few rule changes for 2014. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Changes are in store for the World Rally Championship in 2014 with tweaked rules, a revamped driver lineup, the return of Rally Poland to the roster of events and a new name for the headlining World Rally Car class.

From 2014, World Rally Cars will be known as RC1 cars, following a change to the sport’s technical structure. Citroën, Ford (through privateer team M-Sport), Volkswagen and now Hyundai will all be represented in the category. Aside from minor changes under the “joker” system, the technical regulations have been frozen for this season in a bid to control costs.

The schedule for the year ahead is largely the same as 2013, aside from the return of Rally Poland in place of the legendary Acropolis Rally in Greece. Poland’s round also ventures into neighbouring Lithuania. With Rally Sweden including stages in Norway, 15 different nations will be represented in 2014.

With the exception of Rallye-Monte Carlo and Rally Sweden – their itineraries had been set prior to the rule change – all events will follow a fixed format with a ceremonial start on Thursday and the Power Stage starting at approximately 12 on Sunday on European rounds in a bid to attract live TV. The Power Stage, which awards bonus points to the fastest three drivers, must be run over a minimum distance of 10 kilometers.

Other changes for 2014 focus on the sporting regulations and, in particular, the starting order rules, which have been tweaked to raise the spectacle and reduce the use of controversial road-position tactics. It means priority 1 and 2 drivers will start in championship order on day one with their positions according to rally order reversed for days two and three. As a result, the Qualifying Stage concept, introduced in 2012, is no more.

But it’s the driver market where the bulk of the close-season activity has taken place. Citroën has replaced Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo with Kris Meeke and Mads Østberg respectively, with Sordo joining Thierry Neuville at Hyundai for selected events. Neuville, who joins the Korean make from M-Sport, will contest a full 13-round campaign, while the second car will be shared between Chris Atkinson, Juho Hänninen and Sordo.

Hirvonen returns to M-Sport after two years at Citroën where young Briton Elfyn Evans will partner him. Robert Kubica is also M-Sport-bound after winning the WRC 2 title in 2013 in a semi-works Citroën. Volkswagen is the only team to field an unchanged lineup; Andreas Mikkelsen will be in action on all 13 rounds, having tackled a 10-event schedule last term. World champion Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala complete the German team’s attack.